This invention relates to an apparatus and method for weighing an infant and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method of weighing such infant contained in an infant treatment apparatus and where the infant may be weighed with minimal disruption to the infant.
Newborn infants are generally cared for through the use of various types of medical equipment that provide certain functions to assist the infant. For example, premature infants are normally contained for a period of time within an incubator so that they may have a controlled environment to assist in their growth and survival. In other instances, an infant warmer may by used and which comprises of an infant platform on which the infant rests, allowing attention to be given to the infant and which also provides heating to the infant by overhead heaters and/or light radiation for phototherapy.
In either case, it is desirable to have a means of weighing the infant periodically as a indication of its well-being and growth. One of the characteristics desired in carrying out the weighing operation is to maintain the infant as free of disruption as possible and therefore the operation should have a minimum of movement and positioning to the infant. Also, since some of the apparatus that contains and treats the infant is used without the need to weigh the infant, it is desirable that the scale not be permanently built in to the apparatus as the additional cost is not always justifiable if the weighing apparatus is not needed.
Many of the common ways today of weighing infants are disruptive of the infant and require considerable repositioning of the infant. Commonly, one means is to completely remove the infant from the treatment apparatus in order to carry out the weighing procedure. Upon completion of the procedure, the infant is returned to the protected environment. The procedure not only disrupts the infant but removes it from the environment established to protect and support the infant.
In some infant warmers, a scale can be installed beneath the infant, however, the installation requires considerable disruption of the warmer unit. Thus, if an infant is currently in a unit not having such a scale already installed, the infant must be moved to a different unit or maintained somewhere else while the infant support and mattress from the warmer is removed and a cumbersome infant scale inserted into the infant compartment. Upon installation of the scale, the infant support is returned to rest on top of the infant scale and then the infant is replaced in the unit. In addition, in such units, since the infant scale actually is fitted within the infant compartment, the scale must be laboriously cleaned after use with each infant before it can be used with another infant.
In any event, the use of such infant scales requires disruption to the infant since it must be removed from the warm environment and later returned after installing the infant scale. As a further difficulty, since it is expensive to install an infant scale into each warmer unit, it is often necessary to remove the scale from an infant warmer containing an infant to move that scale to another unit where the infant needs to be weighed. Thus, there is disruption to two infants to move the infant scale from unit to unit at a time when disruptions to the infants are undesirable.
Accordingly, the present scales used for weighing infants contained in treatment apparatus are cumbersome and disruptive of the infant as well as inconvenient in use.